‘Becky?’ Daniel nodded around his mouthful of pizza. ‘Ziva mentioned she’d left her job, was around a lot more. You know, in passing, once or twice,’ he added, eyes sparkling. ‘Just in case I was interested.’

Oho! ‘And are you?’ I asked coyly, hiding behind a sip of raspberry lemonade.

‘I am not. Everyone knows that Becky Adams has been in love with the same man since primary school. And it’s not me.’

‘So who is it, then? Does he know?’ Now this was interesting. And if everyone knew, it wasn’t even gossiping.

‘Luke Winter. He’s heard the banter, but doesn’t really believe it. Brushes it off as a childhood crush. Becky’s intimidatingly successful, has spent the past few years jetting around the world with her job. She was one of the popular kids at school. Popular because she worked hard to make sure that people genuinely liked her, not because they were scared of her not liking them. She was always looking out for everyone, especially those who didn’t quite fit in. She could throw a wicked spin ball, too.’

‘Sounds like Luke doesn’t know what he’s missing.’ I helped myself to another slice of garlic bread. Nora Sharp would have given this grease-riddled feast a 0.5 out of ten, pronouncing that the rats wouldn’t bother scavenging it out of the bin. Eleanor Sharpley, after a day of positively frenetic activity compared to the recent slump-fest, declared it perfectly delicious.

Daniel shrugged. ‘He works as a tradesman, has never lived anywhere but Ferrington. Spends every Friday night with a pie and a pint at the Boatman and isn’t interested in anything different. Rumour has it he won six figures on the lottery a couple of years ago and apart from buying a couple of tools and a new fishing rod, he gave the whole lot away. He’s not exactly… your typical ladies’ man. But he was the first person I called when Charlie went missing, and he was the last one to stop looking. It’s obvious to everyone but Luke why Becky’s smitten.’

‘Why doesn’t Ziva steamroller them together?’

‘Oh, because Luke grew up on the New Side of the river.’ Daniel offered me the last piece of pizza. I wrestled with being polite, but instead picked up a knife and indicated that we’d share it.

‘What does where he grew up have to do with anything?’ I asked, deliciously stuffed to the brim. Was the New Side of the river some sort of local double entendre?

‘Round here, which side of the Maddon you grew up on means everything.’

‘So, what side are we?’ I asked, baffled, but before Daniel could answer the whiffles and squeaks that had been intermittently emanating from the baby monitor crescendoed into poignant cries, and Daniel went to investigate, leaving me wondering if every baby that cried in the night sounded like their world had come crashing down, or just those who’d lost their mother.

7

The next day, Hope came to visit me at eight. Daniel knocked and waited for me to get up and answer the bedroom door this time. ‘I thought I might go for a quick run before I drop Hope at Mum’s, if you don’t mind watching her?’